Cadet Aren Simonyan, a first-year student at the Academy, reflects that pursuing a military career has been his lifelong aspiration. During his civilian life, he frequently attended shooting ranges, which affirmed his conviction that a military vocation was his true calling. According to Cadet Simonyan, integrity and resolute determination are the quintessential attributes that every military officer must possess.

Cadet Ellen Babajanyan, a third-year student and silver medalist at the 37th World Military Wrestling Championship, expressed her satisfaction with the achievements of 2024, citing significant professional accomplishments. She proceeded to extend her heartfelt wishes for the New Year and Christmas celebrations.

According to Armen Petrosyan’s assessment, the changes will mainly have a negative impact on business: “We know that this year’s budget revenue part was fully collected, and the Government has already set a higher bar for 2025, even under conditions when it was not possible to ensure the lower bar set for 2024.”

Details in the video.

The Current Role of Armenia’s Mining Industry

Armenia’s mining history dates back to the mid-18th century, when copper extraction began in the Alaverdi and Kapan mines. Over decades, the sector has evolved into one of the pillars of our economy, making steady contributions to economic growth, employment, and state revenue generation. Along this long path, mining has transformed from simple extraction into a modern, complex technological process.

Thanks to the diligent work of Armenian geologists and specialists, enormous experience and knowledge have been accumulated over decades. The Republican Geological Fund today preserves exceptional materials over a century old, which are invaluable for studying our country’s subsoil.

Armenia’s mineral wealth is exceptional in its diversity. Our country is known not only for metallic minerals but also holds leading global positions in non-metallic mineral reserves. Each region has its unique “mineral passport.” Syunik is rich in copper and molybdenum, Lori in copper and polymetals, while Aragatsotn and Kotayk regions are known for their construction material deposits.

Armenia’s mineral resource wealth is impressive. Mining companies operating in our republic have copper-molybdenum ore reserves for about 100-120 years, gold ore for 25-30 years, and lead-zinc ore for 20-25 years. Besides the main metals, our ores also contain rare and dispersed metals – rhenium, selenium, tellurium, cadmium, indium, gallium, thallium, and bismuth.

No less impressive are the non-metallic mineral reserves. Perlite and diatomite reserves in Armenia amount to about 3 billion cubic meters. Our country is also rich in tuff, pumice, zeolites, volcanic slag, basalt, granite, and marble. All these resources play an important role in construction and industrial development.

Production Volumes: What Are We Extracting?

2021 marked significant growth in the mining sector. Mining industry production volume reached 587.9 billion drams, growing by 45.9% compared to the previous year. The main driver of this impressive growth was the increase in metallic ore extraction volumes.

Metallic ore extraction accounts for 96.7% of the sector’s production. This shows how crucial metallic mining is for our country.

Copper extraction is particularly noteworthy. In 2021, copper ore extraction volumes constituted 35.4% of total metallic ore extraction, growing by 61% compared to the previous year. This demonstrates the sector’s dynamic development and strengthening of our country’s position in the international market.

Non-metallic mineral extraction, though smaller in volume, also plays an important role. In 2021, extraction volumes in this sector amounted to 18.8 billion drams, with sand and gravel extraction accounting for 73.5%.

GDP Contribution: How Does the Sector Contribute to Economic Growth?

The importance of the mining sector for Armenia’s economy cannot be overestimated. In 2021, the sector’s direct contribution to GDP was 6.1%, which is 2.5 percentage points higher than in 2019. This means that out of every 100 drams produced in Armenia, 6 drams were directly created in the mining sector.

However, the sector’s real impact is larger. Mining has an economic multiplier effect of 1.8. This means that every 1 dram created in the sector generates an additional 0.8 drams of value in the economy. As a result, mining’s total direct and indirect contribution to GDP reaches 11%.

State Revenue: How Does the Sector Contribute to the Country’s Budget?

Mining is one of the most important sources of state budget revenue. In 2020, companies engaged in metallic mineral extraction alone paid 82.2 billion drams to the state budget, 3.5% more than the previous year.

Notably, during 2016-2019, royalties constituted the largest share of taxes and payments from metallic mineral extraction companies, averaging 52%. Income tax and profit tax also had significant shares.

Employment and Wages: Social Impact

The mining sector plays not only an economic but also an important social role. In 2021, the sector directly employed 10.5 thousand people. However, the real picture is more impressive.

The sector’s employment multiplier is 5.3, meaning that each mining job creates an additional 4.3 jobs in other sectors of the economy. Thus, the sector’s total impact on employment is estimated at around 55.7 thousand jobs.

Wages in the sector are significantly higher than the national average. In 2021, the average monthly salary was 499,603 drams, which is 2.4 times higher than the country’s average wage. This means a high standard of living for sector employees and their families.

Exports and International Trade

Mining is one of Armenia’s leading export sectors. In 2021, mineral product export volumes reached 982 million USD, constituting 32.5% of the country’s total exports. This is 20% more than the previous year’s figure.

Copper concentrate dominates the export structure, accounting for about 80% of mineral product exports. In 2021, copper concentrate export volumes grew by 27%, indicating stable demand for our products in international markets.

About the Next Article

Don’t miss the third article – “Mining Sector Achievements, Current Issues, and Reform Opportunities” in Iravaban.net‘s innovative series dedicated to raising awareness about the mining industry development strategy of the Republic of Armenia, as part of the “Mining Industry and Law” project. It will reveal the sector’s strengths and weaknesses, present existing opportunities and challenges, and address tools and mechanisms that will help achieve sustainable development in the sector.

The draft proposes to update the rates established for notary services – aligning them with the socio-economic situation, service rates will increase by approximately 50 percent, and new rates will be established for new services while ensuring their economic foundations.

Iravaban.net discussed the topic with attorney Narine Abelyan. She noted that the change will primarily affect citizens’ solvency, taking into account the minimum wage in the Republic of Armenia, which has not changed: “The average salary, benefits, and other social payments have not changed, but for unclear reasons, the state and relevant authorities have decided that the right to receive legal assistance should carry such complications.”

Details in the video.

“The prosecuting body, while fully aware that Mr. Vermishyan has not been in Armenia since the 1990s and has conducted his business activities outside its borders, and despite having the tools defined by the ‘Law on Confiscation of Illegally Obtained Property’ to make interstate or intergovernmental inquiries to foreign counterparts, has not done so, and the investigation has been severely limited,” said Armen Melkumyan.

The attorney notes that the responding party itself has tried to carry out these inquiries, obtain documents containing banking information, and present them to the court to confirm the legitimacy of their client’s income.

Details in the video.

]]> https://iravaban.net/en/506300.html Sun, 29 Dec 2024 17:08:39 +0000 https://iravaban.net/?p=506300 Read more »]]> Hovsep Samvel Galstyan was awarded with the “Combat Cross” first degree medal. On September 27, 2020, when Azerbaijan launched its large-scale war, Hovsep participated as a volunteer.

“I am a resident of Artsakh, my six children were born there. I was working with my son in Shushi. When the fight began, I went to my children, my son took a taxi and said ‘I’m going to defend the homeland’ and left. On the way, he encountered a Turkish officer, killed them, took their uniform and went to his squad’s soldiers. There he put on the enemy’s uniform, his fellow soldiers fired from the front, while he entered from behind,” – father Samvel Galstyan told Iravaban.net as part of the “Immortal Victims of the Artsakh War” series.

Hovsep destroyed the enemy, causing numerous casualties, took their weapons and distributed them to the boys.

When Hovsep was killed, the enemy thought he was one of their soldiers, but when they took his phone, they saw he was Armenian and sent his death photo to his girlfriend. That’s how the parents learned that Hovsep had fallen.

For 6 months the father searched for his son’s body: “I barely found the remains, it wasn’t even a body, just two bones. There was a boy with me, he went in and took out the relics, we sent them to Yerevan, after some time we received news that the DNA matched. I took him and committed him to the earth.”

Details in the video.

Details in the video.

-What is the Armenian Apostolic Church’s official position regarding New Year celebration, and how does it differ from the spiritual meaning of Christmas?

-New Year in church is marked with the Pomegranate Blessing ceremony, when on New Year’s Eve the pomegranate is blessed in church, symbolizing church life. As pomegranate has many seeds and these seeds are united within the peel, similarly we see church’s mystery in pomegranate. Just as pomegranate seeds separately can be crushed and spoil, we believe that church faithful, if disconnected from church community life, will retreat from their Christian conduct and manners. Pomegranate peel symbolizes church community life, which is emphasized on New Year’s Eve when pomegranate is blessed.

-How should a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church celebrate New Year?

-Sometimes people ask us, saying – if I am fasting, how can I behave during hospitality events, should I say I don’t want to eat, or can I simply say I am fasting? In our church fasting, prayer and mercy have their individual and communal nature. In individual cases perhaps one should cover, pray in secret, give mercy in secret, keep their fast in secret, but during communal prayers, fasting and mercies there’s no need to avoid, but should express. By speaking about this, a person testifies to Christ, testifies that they are a child of the Armenian Apostolic Church and through this testimony teaches others that it is necessary during fasting time to welcome the New Year with prayer and fasting, especially Jesus Christ’s birth. It is necessary that we as a nation can control our appetite for various foods and beverages and can welcome this period with fasting, which I think has recorded quite extreme situations for us. Months in advance people rush around to fill New Year tables, causing themselves additional worry. Some end up in debt, others are distressed by this race.

-Many people welcome the New Year expecting miracles, how justified is this?

-There are two important concepts that need clarification, one is hope, the other is optimism. The cause of hope is faith, if a person believes in God, their hope is real hope, while the cause of optimism is simply suggestion. We can suggest anything to ourselves, thus a person can fall into illusions.

-Many people also make various predictions on New Year’s Eve, how would you interpret this?

-Real faith cannot give rise to customs that are outside divine messages and commandments. Therefore, making predictions through any objects or items means not trusting God. One who can open their heart before God on New Year’s Eve, Christmas holiday, pray sincerely, they should be confident that their help comes from God, if we trust God, then resorting to any kind of predictions, sorcery or superstitious acts means trying to serve two masters. Therefore, the Christmas message is that we can renew our vow before God, renew our faith before God.

-How can a modern believer balance New Year’s secular celebrations and Christmas’s spiritual significance?

-If under the word secular we understand sin, excess, gluttony, drunkenness, then in no way, it has no commonality with divine commandments, but if by secular life we mean a person who is not officially in spiritual service, but is a child of the church, then it is necessary that they too, as church wholeness, as a pomegranate seed, be with that pomegranate.

Details in the video.

The Supreme Judicial Council on October 17, 2022, approved the General Prosecutor’s Office’s motions to initiate criminal prosecution and consent to deprivation of liberty against Judge Arusyak Alexanyan. Within the same case, charges were also brought against lawyer Erik Alexanyan under Article 46-441 of the Criminal Code, namely, assisting an official in abusing power or official authority or influence conditioned by them, or exceeding authority. Charges were also brought against Arusyak Alexanyan’s assistant Tamara Petrosyan in this case.

According to the charges, the judge made an obviously unjust judicial act and abused official powers. She approved the motion of Erik Alexanyan, the defender of Sergey Grigoryan, known by the nickname “Faz” and considered a criminal authority, changed his preventive measure and released him from detention for 2.5 million drams bail. Sergey Grigoryan is a friend of Arusyak Alexanyan’s brother, Rustam Alexanyan.

According to Iravaban.net, at this hearing, Arnold Vardanyan, one of defendant Arusyak Alexanyan’s defenders, presented a motion. The motion was about the court recognizing several operational intelligence measures as inadmissible evidence.

“I don’t have much to say, because I’ve lost count of how many times we’re discussing this same issue. At each court session, the defense brings a new motion challenging the results of operational intelligence measures. They tried to justify these motions with different legislative regulations, at least until now. I’m puzzled why Mr. Vardanyan, or with what logic, is motioning to recognize as inadmissible or limit the use of data obtained through operational intelligence measures,” said prosecutor Armen Gevorgyan.

The court postponed the resolution of the motion.

At this court session, the court addressed Erik Alexanyan’s motion submitted on May 4, 2023, which concerned recognizing evidence obtained during operational intelligence measures (OIM) as inadmissible. The court noted that the resolution of this issue will also be provided during the publication of the final judicial act.

“Mr. Gevorgyan noted that they carried out comprehensive other intelligence measures, external surveillance without using technical means, and so on, yes, they were implemented. And what was discovered as a result of implementing these operational intelligence measures? It was discovered what phone number Arusyak Alexanyan uses and where Arusyak Alexanyan’s office is located, which floor, and so on. Let’s understand, they discovered the phone number, and secondly, the location of the office. What was discovered from this? Was it discovered that Arusyak Alexanyan took a bribe? No. Was it discovered that Arusyak Alexanyan had suspicious conversations with Erik Alexanyan? No,” said defendant Erik Alexanyan.

The court hearing was postponed.

This draft was presented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

Deputy Minister Ruben Sargsyan noted that next month discussions will be held with employers, workers’ rights advocates and other stakeholders to understand their approaches regarding the topic.

Details in the video.